Mulan

Mulan

Mulan tells the tale of a Chinese girl who secretly takes her fathers place as a warrior and ends up saving China from the Huns.  Although the plotline breaks free from Disney’s normal damsel in distress theme, it is not as much a feminist movie as it seems. Mulan as a character powerfully overcomes gender stereotypes, but the movie as a whole reinforces the norm of a domestic, quiet, submissive woman.

The opening scene of the movie presents Mulan reciting the qualities of an ideal woman that she needs to remember for her meeting with the matchmaker.

            “Quiet and demure, graceful, polite, delicate, refined, poised, punctual.”

Later as she is bathed, made-up and prepared for her appointment, the ladies around her sing the lyrics,

“Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast paced.  With good breeding and a tiny waist, you’ll bring honor to us all.”

From the beginning of the movie, especially set in the heavy patriarchal, honor-based culture of old China, Mulan is pressured to fit into the stereotypical subordinate category of woman.  After failing miserably with the matchmaker...

... Mulan wonders about who she truly is, as she is unable to fit culture’s expectation of who she should be as a woman.  She sings,

            “Now I see that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family’s heart.”

 This line shows that Mulan is not endeavoring to act out her gender role for herself, but for her family.  When linked to the larger topic of gender, through this we see gender as a social construction that humans act out not only to validate our own identities, but to gain acceptance from others.  This is also relatable to Cooley’s looking-glass-self theory in that when others are seen to respond positively to this acting out of self, the portrayed gender identity is validated and reinforced; or in Mulan’s case, diminished.

When her injured father is called to war, Mulan sacrifices her image as a woman.  By cutting her long hair, a symbol of femininity and beauty, leaving her hair clip by her parent’s bed and taking her father’s warrior gear, horse and sword with her, Mulan adopts the role of a man, “Ping”, in order to protect him.

 After initial difficulty in the military and having a hard time physically keeping up with the men, Mulan soon uses her wit and intelligence to excel and win the favor and friendship of the military leader, Shang.  Doing this purely out of determination and without the help of men, Mulan breaks Disney’s gender stereotype of a helpless woman in need of a man to rescue her.  She applies herself to a goal and is strong enough to achieve it, saving a man, her father, in the process. 

After being injured while saving Shang, another man, Mulan’s gender is revealed to the rest of the troops.  Although they trusted and respected her as a man, when they discover her true sex, their opinions change, they become angry, and she is left behind.  

While alone, Mulan discovers that the Huns are alive, but when she finds her military leader and tries to tell him, he refuses to hear her out.

Mulan: “The Huns are alive, they’re in the city.”

Shang: You don’t belong here Mulan, go home.

Mulan:  Shang, I saw them in the mountains.  You have to believe me.

Shang:  Why should I?

Mulan:  Why else would I come back? You said you trusted Ping. Why is Mulan any different?

These lines reveal gender classifications in the movie establishing men as authoritative and trustworthy and women as ditzy and not to be involved in serious matters.  However, Mulan soon proves Shang and society wrong, and by leading men to carry out her plan, ends up saving China.  When presented as a hero in front of the emperor, she is verbal attacked by his assistant, Chi Fu, who says, "This is a woman.  She will never be worth anything."  Chi Fu's opinion is soon disregarded as Mulan is offered his position in office and honored by the emperor.  However, Mulan declines it, and instead decides to return home to her family.  Although she exemplifies feminine strength in the conventional male realm, Mulan gives it all up to return home and fulfill her duties as a daughter, reinforcing the norm of the domestic woman. 

                                          (Watch 0:00-1:00)

The movie reinforces gender stereotypes in some ways, but overall, it portrays a strong female character who excelled even though she was unable to be what culture expected her to be.  Mulan proved among contrasting Disney movies that females are capable of being strong, sometimes stronger than men, in a male-dominated world.